Many garments and other articles of apparel are designed to fit closely to the human body. When designing an article of apparel for a close fit to the human body, different body shapes and sizes must be considered. Different individuals within a particular garment size will have different body shapes and sizes. For example, two individuals wearing the same shoe size may have very differently shaped heels. As another example, two individuals wearing the same shirt size may have very different chest to abdomen dimensions. These variable measurements between similarly sized individuals makes proper design of closely fitting garments difficult.
In addition to accounting for different body measurements for different individuals within a size, various contours of the human body must also be considered when designing closely fitting articles of apparel. These contours of the human body often include various double curvature surfaces. Spheroids, bowls, and saddle-backs are all examples of surfaces having double curvatures. If a garment is not properly sized for a particular wearer, the wearer may experience undesirable tightness or looseness at various locations. Such an improper fit may result in discomfort, excessive wear, buckling, bending or creasing of the garment at the poorly fitting locations.
The contour and fit of a particular of apparel may be further complicated by fastening arrangements such as zippers, buttons and lacing arrangements which draw opposing seams toward one another and couple them together. In particular, because fastening arrangements draw two opposing sides together, there is often buckling and creasing in the area of the fastening arrangement when the sides are drawn together, and this can lead to discomfort and undesirable tightness to the wearer.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a garment or other article of apparel capable of conforming to various body shapes within a given size range. It would also be desirable to provide a garment or other article of apparel that is capable of conforming to various double curvatures on the human body. Furthermore, it would be advantageous for such an article to include a fastening arrangement adapted to reduce buckling and discomfort to a wearer when the fastening arrangement is drawn together. In addition, it would be desirable for such a garment or article of apparel to be relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture.